Textmanuscripts - Les Enluminures

Printed Book of Hours (Use of Rome)

In Latin and French, illuminated imprint on parchmentParis, Germain Hardouyn, c. 1536 (almanac for 1536-1548)14 large metalcuts and printer’s device with borders, 1 small metalcut, all skillfully illuminated likely in the Hardouyn Workshop

Paris was truly the epicenter of the production of printed books of Hours from 1485 to nearly 1550. Many of these imprints, like this example, consciously imitated illuminated manuscripts. In this particularly appealing volume, fourteen metalcuts are so vibrantly and expertly painted that they are indistinguishable from illuminated miniatures. It is a tiny book, in a distinctive and unusual format, very narrow and oblong, fitting easily in a pocket to carry about for use in private devotion. This is a very rare imprint, possibly a unicum.

Provenance

1. Printed in Paris by Germain Hardouyn, with an almanac for the years 1536-1548, suggesting a date of printing c. 1536. Germain was a printer in Paris from some point early in the sixteenth century; he took over for his brother, Gillet Hardouyn or Hardouyn (a printer active in Paris from 1491 until 1521/1523) in 1521/1523, and contiuned until 1541 (see Renouard, 1965, pp. 197-198; Müller, 1970, p. 76).

This is a very rare imprint, not in Lacombe (1907) or Brunet (1860-1865); possibly the same as Moreau-Renouard, 1972-2004, vol. 5, p. 105, no. 194, BP 16 108201, Bohatta, 1924, no. 1177, although no collation is listed, and the imprint is described simply as an octavo, listed in these sources is a single copy sold by L. Rosenthal, Munich, Cat. XXII, no. 4032, no date, 188?, where it is described as bound in modern gold-tooled calf.

This book was printed by Germain Hardouyn, a printer, bookseller and publisher (libraire juré) associated with the University of Paris, and an illuminator, who was active from 1500-1541. Many of his earlier books were published and printed with his brother Gilles. He then went on to publish books by himself, as is the case here. Hardouyn specialized in small “agenda”-format Books of Hours like this one–very small books with a distinctive long and narrow shape (he also produced more traditionally-shaped miniature Books of Hours). An earlier example in this same “agenda” format was produced c. 1509 (see Moreau-Renouard, 1972-2004, I, 112; Tenschert and Nettekoven, 2003, III, no. 143); the Book of Hours sold at Sotheby’s, December 7, 2015, lot 21, is an example that appears to be very similar to the volume described here, with the same collation, but slightly earlier, with an almanac from 1534-1536. Imprints in these unusual formats all tend to be quite rare. Many survive in only a single copy.

Printed Books of Hours were one of the mainstays of Parisian publishers and printers in the Renaissance; countless editions were produced between 1488 and 1568. The new technology of printing, at least in theory, introduced Books of Hours, a prayer book for the laity, to a broader audience; the growing urban middle class was one of the chief purchasers of these books. Many printed Books of Hour, however, were luxurious productions, like this small gem of a book, which is printed on vellum. Although some printed Books of Hours were left in their pristine black- and-white condition, just as they came off the press (though they invariably had painted initials, line endings, and ruling added by hand), others, like the volume described here, had their prints lavishly painted. Hardouyn’s shop in fact seems to have specialized in Books of Hours with hand-painted metalcuts. The artists who colored the printed illustrations were often active as traditional illuminators as well, making it difficult to distinguish the illustrations from those found in manuscripts.

Illustration

Hardouyn’s device, one small illustration set within the text, and fourteen metalcuts set at the top of page above the text, all framed in gold, and completely and expertly painted, measuring c. 50 x 36 mm.(55 x 48 mm. including the border).

This hand-painted Book of Hours is of an unusual octavo agenda format, very narrow and tall (on these smaller and unusual formats, see Tenschert and Nettekoven, 2003, vol. III and Nettekoven, Ina, Heribert Tenschert und Caroline Zöhl, 2015, vol. VIII : “Sehr kleine Studenbucher und andere Sonderformate der Spatzeit”). In early examples of Horae in this narrow format, Gillet Hardouyn used metalcuts from a smaller series and from border cycles (Tenschert and Nettekoven, 2003, vol. III, no. 143, c. 1509). In the 1520s, Germain Hardouyn began using a series of small metalcuts originally made for Guillaume Eustace in 1507 (in 16o) (Zöhl, 2004, pp. 148-151; Tenschert and Nettekoven, 2003, vol. III, no. 145). Both these series of metalcuts are by the Parisian artist who worked most closely with the Hardouyn brothers, Jean Pichore, active in Paris c. 1502-1521. Although Pichore was mainly an illuminator, he was also an entrepreneur at the head of a large and productive workshop in Paris, supplying designs for metalcuts used to illustrate Books of Hours printed by Simon Vostre, Thielman Kerver, and the brothers Gillet and Germain Hardouyn.

The illustrations in our Book of Hours, however, do not belong to these two series by Pichore, nor have they been identified with any other series found in published examples of Books of Hours in this format. It seems likely that Hardouyn commissioned, or acquired, another set of small, narrow metalcuts for use in books published in this format, perhaps from a source other than Pichore, although certainly borrowing heavily from his metalcuts. To the best of our knowledge, this series is currently unstudied and has not been published. Parallels to the illustrations in our book are found in a unique Book of Hours, printed by Germain Hardouyn, c. 1534 (Tenschert and Nettekoven, 2003, III, no. 147), that is illustrated by a series of miniatures, rather than metalcuts, but which might be based on a set of metalcuts used by Hardouyn in these late books (cf. Sotheby’s, December 7, 2015, lot 21, almanac from 1534-1536, known to us only by the two published images). It is interesting that Hardouyn produced two similar imprints c. 1534 (the c. 1534 Sotheby’s imprint is different in size and collation from Tenschert and Nettekoven no. 147).

Although small in size, the illustrations in our volume are very carefully and thoroughly over-painted by an accomplished artist; no trace of the metalcuts are now visible. Backgrounds tend to be delineated without much detail, but the main figures are realized with considerable skill, with shaded drapery-folds, and usually with careful facial features. The palette features blue, red, orange, and green, with frequent use of liquid gold for highlights. Many, perhaps the majority, of the Books of Hours produced by the Hardouyn brothers are illuminated; they may have employed artists in-house, to decorate the books they printed. Maureen Warren has suggested that the illustrations in these Books of Hours were simplified substrates that were designed to be painted; rather than colored prints, one can think of them instead as “print-assisted paintings” (Online Resources).

The painting in this case is in fact so successful that one could raise the intriguing possibility that our illustrations are in fact miniatures, and not colored metalcuts at all. Alternatively, it is possible that their distinctive features were introduced by the artist, since artists did not always follow the metalcut closely. Certainly, these possibilities that will repay further study.